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Rolling power outages that hit Alberta on Tuesday afternoon have ended for the day, officials have announced.

As of 5:59 p.m. MT, power had been restored to Red Deer and Edmonton with no more outages expected for the evening. Lethbridge is preparing to restore power shortly, but is cautioning that demand remains high.

The blackouts followed a Level 3 energy emergency alert issued by the Alberta Electrical System Operator (AESO) earlier Tuesday.

The Alberta electrical grid came under intense strain during record-setting heat, and AESO had warned that one-hour blackouts would hit communities across the province. Five coal-fired power plants are out of service today along with several other plants.

Flood-affected areas and critical infrastructure such as hospitals would be exempt from blackouts, AESO said.

Alberta experienced rolling blackouts as the power grid came under strain due to intense heat. (CBC)

AESO said it could see the effect of the blackouts in reducing the province's energy demands.

Alberta set a power use record earlier today with 10,062 megawatts being consumed as of 4 p.m. That figure is now down to 9,685 megawatts, which is below the 2012 record.

Heat strains power grid

The blackouts came on the heels of intense heat across southern Alberta. Twenty heat records were broken yesterday in the province and more will likely follow, said CBC Calgary weather specialist Warren Dean.

"Calgary's record of of 33.3 C for July 2 is looking to be broken," said Dean.

"We've been pulling in very warm and dry air from the deserts in the United States for about a week, and with that, our temperatures have kept rising."

As of 3:30 p.m. MT, Calgary was sitting at 32 C, with the humidex making it feel like 39. On this day in 2012, Calgary was at 23 C, according to data from Environment Canada.

Police are cautioning people not to leave animals inside cars. Over the past few days, police in Lethbridge have responded to a number of reports of animals left unattended inside hot vehicles.

According to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA), temperatures in a parked car, even in the shade with a window partially open, can rise enough to seriously harm an animal in as little as 10 minutes.

Animals left in hot cars are at risk of heat stroke and death. Anyone who sees an animal in distress inside a vehicle is asked to contact police.

Weather system moves from B.C.

The intense heat came as a system that caused record-breaking temperatures in B.C. yesterday moved into Alberta.